Tucked neatly on nearly every available shelf or ledge throughout her tiny White Center home, more than 1000 smallish wooden characters, red-topped roosters and miniature cups remind Audie May of her late husband Howard's uncanny knack for carving.

Special canes in a variety of tree limbs quietly nestle in a metal milk can near the hallway. Their gnarly curled handles ready to assist. Hummingbirds hung from ceiling string appear to be aloft. The exquisite blended wood cups wait to be chosen for someone's knick-knack shelf.

For more than 80 years, Howard spent his free time and maybe a few late nights with tiny carving blades and a fine eye for detail. Audie May shows off the turkey calls her husband fashioned out of one piece of wood. Using an attached wood plate, she demonstrates the effectiveness with an audible gobble. gobble, gobble. A machinist by trade, Howard made his own knives to fit the need for specific detailing on each carving.

On a table nearby are finely detailed toothpicks in a small glass jar. They stand totem pole-like in their pose with a mildly angry grimace as if held by the carved wooden chains draped on walls around the room.

At just more than 4 inches high the wooden "townsfolk" figurines display many emotions. Smiling, staring, glaring and looking askance as if spying.

Several have canes of their own, also intricately carved. The men wear pants and boots or overalls and many wear hats like a crowd scene out of the 30's. The women wear sashed dresses appearing appropriately shorter than the men.

Some are carved to stand alone, others in a row all from one block of wood. Pine is a favorite for carving due to its softness but the use of Fir, Mahogany and other harder woods is evident.

The fancy roosters on a kitchen shelf display singular chicken coop dominance with a haughty stance and a spray of curled wood in their tails.

Howard died in 2008 but his collection of carvings lives on in the myriad assortment Audie May is so proud to show.